page_title: Timeline of tuition fees in the United Kingdom
section_title: Reaction to the Browne Report
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of tuition fees in the United Kingdom / Post-devolution developments in the countries of the UK / England / Browne Review / Reaction to the Browne Report
context_page_description: Tuition fees in the United Kingdom were reintroduced for full-time resident students in 1998, as a means of funding tuition to undergraduate and postgraduate certificate students at universities. Since their introduction, the fees have been reformed multiple times by several bills, with the cap on fees notably rising to £9,000 a year for the 2012–13 academic year.
context_section_description: The recommendations contained within the report issued by the Browne commission contained one particularly controversial area in the removal of the cap on tuition fees. Lord Browne however in an interview with BBC Breakfast predicted that few institutions would put fees up very high. For the Liberal Democrats in particular it was predicted that the review would cause deep political divisions both within their own party and within the coalition government as many had signed a pledge promising not to vote for any increase in tuition fees prior to the election. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, said the proposals were "probably on the right lines" whilst the Liberal Youth section of the party described the fee rise as a "disaster". Backbench Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland immediately said he would vote against the plan. Within the media the Financial Times called the report by Lord Browne a "genuinely radical document that would, if implemented, lead to a free-market revolution in higher education provision". David Blackburn of the Spectator called the proposals a "sustainable and permanent solution" and described the plan as "progressive". The Guardian's Martin Hall however said that there would be a "social cost of variable tuition fees" and said that institutions rated highest in the league tables would be able to charge more and so force out poorer students. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, also defended the report saying "Everybody wants the same thing, not only sustainable funding for universities, but also a system where the teaching you receive at university, the upfront costs of it are free at the point of use, that we encourage more students from poor backgrounds into university than is presently the case and, crucially, that when people pay back for their university tuition, they only do it when they can afford to do it and that people who earn more pay a bit more back than others. I think that is a fair and sustainable approach and that is what we are looking for in the Browne report today." For Labour, the shadow Business Secretary John Denham said that the report deserved "careful study" and said that it was "right that some students make some contribution towards their education". However he added
  "We are concerned that many graduates will be shackled by debt for the majority of their working lives; that those on middle incomes in typical graduate jobs may pay more than their fair share and the highest earners will pay less and be free of debt much earlier."
caption: Vince Cable United Kingdom Business Secretary (2010-2015) in charge of implementing the changes resulting from the Browne review
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